Château d'If and the Forts of Marseille

A focal point of tourism for its panorama over the Marseille roadstead, the Château d'If was built during François I's reign. The inhabitants of Marseille long considered it to be a first, arbitrary attempt by the monarchy to control their formerly independent city, even before the Frioul forts were built by Henri IV and above all Fort Saint-Jean and Fort Saint-Nicolas by Louis XIV. It is a little-appreciated monument, archaic in its still medieval form, but modern in its role in the defence of the kingdom's coastline. Its function as a prison pushed its military role into the shade at an early date: for three hundred years, the castle served as a prison for both the famous and the unknown. Last but not least, since Dumas and The Count of Monte Cristo, it is pre-eminently the site of a literary myth, its identity laden with an imaginary reality.

The "Itinéraires" series, designed as a guide for cultural tourism, invites the visitor to discover the highroads and byways of France's national heritage.